Shops, Shops, Shops, Shops, Shops, Shops, Shops

Introduction.

The title of this was influenced by the name of the band "Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs" and the Buchanan Shopping Mall in Glasgow, though virtually any Shopping Mall makes me feel like this.

Shops, Shops, Shops, Shops, Shops, Shops, Shops

When you are in a strange city you often don't know exactly where you are going. You have to trust maps, local knowledge and even your own sense of direction. My own is usually fairly good, though there are times where I get completely lost, but they are few and far between.

I was trying to find my way back to the hotel and knew there was a huge shopping centre that I had walked around, but it was late when I got off the subway train and I thought I would be quicker to cut through the massive shopping mall, so I decided to chance it.

There were loads of shops, but the signs just seemed to point to more shops. I have a good sense of direction but in no time I wasn't sure how I had got in, and half wondering how I was going to get out.

I had assumed I could simply walk straight through, but when I checked the maps on my mobile phone I just started getting bombarded with messages from the shops I was near,

"Come in here and get double points on all your purchases", I didn't know what the points were and the shops were not selling anything I wanted to buy, in fact I did not want to buy anything, I just wanted to get through this mall and out the other side to get to my hotel.

I then started seeing my name displayed on shop windows, like in the film "Minority Report", they were obviously fishing information from my phone, even though I thought it was secured against this sort of intrusion.

I then thought the exit might be on another floor so I took the escalator up, and ended up in some kind of rotunda that was similar to the one that had come from.

The shops were demanding that I enter them and spend money and in return, they would shower me with points, but I had to spend money and buy goods I did not need or want.

I was looking for a way out but at the end of every aisle was another shop, and there was no way out though the back of the shop.

As soon as I got into a shop I was pounced on by shop assistants trying to sell me whatever was in stock and the shop. Just tap my card or phone and I could take it home, except I couldn't find a way out of this mall from hell.

I finally succumbed and bought a burger and a cover for my phone in the hope that would allow me egress from this hellish labyrinth of shops, but nothing changed.

Although I could use my phone to buy things, and they had used it to take my details I was unable to call out or text, or use my messenger apps.

Had I fallen into some shopping hell?

Was Beelzebub some shop owner who when my cards expired was going to demand my soul in payment. I tried the escalators, the toilets, the big stores, but there was absolutely no way out.

There was nothing I could do but wander the aisles of the mall, to buy things from the shops and the stalls, or sit in some of the chairs in the seating areas.

I asked the staff how they got home and they looked at me blankly, and asked me what I would like to buy and did I want things on easy terms.

I just wanted out, but I didn't what I had done wrong but it felt like I had been consigned to shopping mall hell.